This happens to me. I don't know if it is depression or not. But I experience what you're describing. I'll be ON, like high alert for a period of time... and then there's this sort of downward emotional sort of shift and then sometimes once I'm done crying and being overly emotional and overly sensitive, I get a little bit "blank" for a bit... maybe a day or a few days. But then I'll come out of it.

It does feel like my bouts of high anxiety/fear/panic are followed by a depression of sorts, but I've only recently begun working with a therapist (she believes I have PTSD) and I have not asked her directly about this.

I think you should listen to your body, but not your mind. :) That's what helps me. If my body is achy, tired, sore, tense - I work to make it feel better. But whatever is going on in my mind I try to calm and quiet it. Easier said than done! Hence - why I am seeking help from a professional. lol

Sweet sleep, rest, R&R... pamper yourself a bit. I hope you feel better soon. ((hugs))

No, I don't think it's depression, I think it's exhaustion.

People nowadays do not give themselves enough down time. This I think is the root of all the problems. Not enough resolution, relaxation, recharging time. Just go, panic, go, panic, go. Your endocrine system packs it in and tells you to get stuffed, your hormones go haywire, your instincts cack the bed and before you know it you're a dribbling mess sitting in a corner in a state of full time anxiety attack.

:D been there, done that!

I personally think anxiety can be cyclic, in that you run the gauntlet of it for about 3 days for the bad ones. And then you're shattered. Let yourself be shattered. You have just driven your body enormously for days. If you had run a marathon you would want a sit down: this is no different.

I have found for me depression came from issues that I could not solve, so that I was stuck with inaction and endurance when I needed change. That's not the same as being tired, but it certainly does make you tired. It's very important to keep your life moving forward, and resolving things as you are able to, not letting people stop you from achieving your aims, so that you don't find yourself stuck behind a glass wall with depression. when you have anxiety this is extra hard, because often fixing things and letting life move forward involves confrontation, which is terrifying when you have anxiety.

But hey ho. If that's the genetics you got dished up when egg you was fertilised then it's stil better than never having been fertilised in the first place. You just have to put up with extra difficulty, like you would if you were born without legs.

Don't worry too much about this. Take time off. Have a mental health day.

I have to admit I am in the same boat as you. I keep feeling afraid of "going back there" and ending up in hospital in electroshock treatments again.

I try to do my best to "get with the program" and tell myself I am doing the best can.

I have no advice really. I just wanted to say I understand how you feel.

I don't really know much about depression but when I go through my issues of anxiety cycles then feeling really tired and lethargic, its hormone related. Days 19-26 I am an agitated crazy woman, and then days 27-28, I feel tired and down and I start reacting to everything like it is the worst thing in the world. I will write in my journal about how I want a divorce because my husband doesn't love me and I will cry and feel so SAD. I mean, I am an unbelievable. Then I wake up the next day and feel completely better and tear the page out and laugh at myself.
But if you don't think yours is hormone related, it makes sense that you could feel down and depressed after being keyed up for so long. Maybe your body just needed a break and you weren't listening your brain is forcing you to take one.
Hope you are feeling better soon.

My doc says anxiety and depression often go together and its difficult to tell which came first. Anxiety can be very tiring because your body is always on high alert and doesn't get the down time it needs even if you're not doing anything physical. Exercise is one of the best things for both. You would think it would make you more tired but it actually gives you energy if you dont over do it. Sometimes i have to drag myself to the gym but afterwards Im always glad I did.

bridgie I think you're right... exhaustion is a better word for it. That's what it feels like. Exhaustion tinged with a sort of numb feeling. Not a hopelessness, but a blank feeling.